A/N: Thank you for the reviews and to my beta: Leeese.
Chapter Twenty Six
"Do you really think Jimmy and Lydia will give me permission to marry Quinn?" Clay asked Nathan while he watched him shoot baskets into the hoop. "We've only been dating six months. Maybe it's too soon for us to take that next step."
"Haley's parents are all for falling in love and finding the right person to spend the rest of your life with. So if you prove that you really love their daughter, then I'm sure they would have no problem in letting you ask Quinn," Nathan told him as he shot another basket. To his annoyance, he missed the basket and hit the backboard. The ball bounced back towards Nathan and he grabbed it before it could go past him.
As he bounced the ball, Clay looked at him questioningly. "Are you okay? You haven't seemed like yourself since you came back from your St. Louis trip. Actually, you haven't been acting like yourself since Rachel dropped that bombshell on you. Is everything okay?"
"It will be when my divorce from Rachel is final," Nathan replied as he threw the ball towards the hoop. He smiled to himself as it soared into the basket. "I'm so glad that the year long trial separation is almost over. I'm ready to get the divorce proceedings over with."
"How are you going to explain Rachel's baby?" Clay asked him. "Is she going to try to pass the baby off as yours?"
"I won't have to," Nathan replied. Clay looked at him curiously. "I heard that Owen realized he didn't want the baby either. So they have put the baby up for adoption and he has been adopted already. It's probably for the best. I don't think Owen or Rachel were meant to be parents."
"Why didn't you fight for him?" Clay asked curiously. "I thought you wanted the baby."
"I thought I did too, but I then realized that I just don't want a baby. I want a family," Nathan replied. "Besides, it would only complicate the divorce and I don't want the divorce proceedings to last any longer than they have to."
There were footsteps and the two turned to see Quinn. "Hey, I was looking all over for you," she said as she came over to them. Wrapping her arms around her boyfriend's waist, she turned to Nathan. "I suppose you have heard that you and your family are invited for Thanksgiving dinner." Despite touring the country in their RV, Jimmy and Lydia wanted to be home for the holidays.
Nathan nodded. "Yeah, your mom called and told me. It's nice for the invitation, but Lucas and I are going to pass. We're going to have a small family dinner. But we are hoping that we're invited back for Christmas."
"That's a safe bet," Quinn replied. "She's already thinking about bedroom arrangements since Lucas and Brooke are married and Clay and I are dating. Of course, I don't mind if I stay in the same bedroom as Haley again. Have you heard from her lately?"
Nathan didn't answer for a moment. "No, we're keeping our distance from each other." There was an awkward silence before he spoke again. "I should get going. I'll see you later." He bounced the ball back towards the storage closet, leaving Clay and Quinn alone.
As he drove home, he couldn't stop thinking about Haley. It had been four months since he had seen or heard from her. Respecting her wishes was harder than it was the first time that they had been separated from each other. This was for more than just a month. This was for an unknown amount of time.
He missed her like crazy and thought of her every day. He missed having her as his next door neighbor and taking walks with her and Jewel. He missed teaching her how to play basketball. He missed the way her voice sounded like an angel when she sang Christmas songs. He didn't know how much longer he could take being away from her.
He hated that she had wanted some more space from him. He thought that she would have wanted him there to comfort her with their loss, but he also understood what she was going through. He was also confused about the baby. Did he really want the baby to make up for the loss of his baby with Rachel? Nathan shook his head and pushed that thought out of his mind. He had asked himself that question several times over the last five months and the answer was always the same. Whether they had a baby or not, he loved Haley with all of his heart and wanted to spend the rest of his life with her. He hoped that she knew that.
To keep himself distracted from thinking about Haley too much, he prepared himself for the basketball season and Ryan's birthday. He couldn't believe that he was turning one. It just seemed like yesterday when Peyton's water broke and Haley came to the rescue. That made him wonder if she was still teaching or working on her music.
According to Quinn, she had finished teaching summer school and was now looking for a permanent job somewhere else. Nathan didn't know quite what that meant, but he hoped she was thinking about returning to North Carolina. He could tell that she missed being near her family and new friends, but she was too proud to admit it.
As Nathan was walking around the toy store, he heard two familiar voices talking in the next aisle. He wanted to surprise them, but he also didn't want to embarrass them either. As he pondered the thought, it was easy to overhear the conversation and it was certainly something he hadn't expect to hear.
"Brooke, what's wrong?" Millie asked her best friend. "Is it your mom again? I thought you two worked everything out when you and Lucas got married."
Brooke tried not to laugh. "I wish. Mother was pissed off at me for marrying Lucas and threatened me with an annulment. When I refused, she promised me that she would do everything she could to break our marriage up and I wouldn't have any choice but to crawl back to her." Nathan couldn't believe that his boss could be that cruel. He didn't think it could get any worse until he heard Brooke's next words. "But she then decided to make me a deal. I could stay with Lucas as long as we don't have any children."
Millie frowned. "What would happen if you did get pregnant? Would you have to go back to her and leave Lucas as a single parent?" Brooke was silent. Millie then knew it was worse than that. "Brooke Penelope Davis, please tell me you didn't tell her that you would give up your baby to her!" Brooke made a face. Millie gaped at her. "What were you thinking?"
"What else was I supposed to do?" Brooke exclaimed. "It was either that or lose Lucas. And I wasn't expecting to get pregnant so soon. Lucas and I wanted to wait until after high school before we figured out what we wanted to."
Millie interrupted her right there. "Wait, you're pregnant?" Brooke didn't respond for a moment before she nodded her head. "Does Lucas or Victoria know about it?"
"No and I want to keep it that way for as long as I can," Brooke replied. "I wish I can leave town, but then it would be too obvious."
Millie tried to cheer her friend up. "Don't worry. We'll figure something out. I promise."
Nathan had heard enough and realized that Haley was telling the truth. Victoria wasn't the person who everyone thought she was. How could he not have seen the signs before? It didn't matter now. He couldn't let Victoria have that baby. He managed to slip out of the store without the two friends noticing him. Once he returned to his car, he pulled out his cell-phone and called Cooper. Getting in the middle was always a risk for trouble, but he wanted to help his brother and new sister-in-law. And his unborn niece or nephew.
Fifteen minutes later, he was pacing across his living room floor, waiting for Cooper to arrive. Hearing the doorbell, he rushed to answer it. To his relief, it was Cooper. However, he wasn't alone. Dan and Deb were with him.
Dan saw the confusion on his son's face. "It's okay, son. I know everything about what has been going on between Victoria and Brooke. In fact, that's the whole reason why I went undercover." Nathan raised his eyebrows in surprise. "I wanted to catch Victoria in the act or find some other evidence that showed that she wasn't the beloved principal."
"Like buying off the cops who arrested Haley for kidnapping?" Nathan guessed. Dan nodded. "So you really weren't dating Victoria?" He hoped not. It was too awkward for him to see his dad and boss together.
"No, I have another lady I have my eyes set on," Dan replied as he glanced at Deb. They exchanged smiles before he turned back to his son. "I didn't want to tell you since Victoria was your boss and I knew you didn't want to believe that your boss was capable of doing something like this."
"I didn't want to believe it, but I couldn't ignore how upset Brooke was," Nathan replied. "What can we do to prove that Victoria is blackmailing Brooke? Because I really don't want to wait until Victoria finds out about the baby before we do something."
"What exactly did Brooke tell Millie?" Deb asked. Nathan repeated the story over before Deb spoke again. "Well, that doesn't necessary mean that Victoria would harm the baby. But it does explain why she gave into Brooke's marriage so quickly."
"Don't worry, son. We'll take care of this," Dan said. "You just keep an eye on Lucas and Brooke at school and make sure that Victoria doesn't bother them too much."
"And what if Victoria finds out about the baby before you can arrest her?" Nathan asked. "What am I supposed to do then? What are Lucas and Brooke supposed to do? Lucas doesn't even know that she's pregnant. I don't think he knows about the deal."
"Well, the holidays are coming up. It's the perfect time for them to go out of town. Aren't we invited to Haley's parents' house again?" Dan asked. Nathan nodded. "That's perfect. Take them there while we handle Victoria. By the end of the year, Victoria should be in jail for her crimes."
Deb rolled her eyes. "That's what you said months ago and we still haven't been able to arrest her."
"It's not like Brooke has shown the bruises to me," Dan replied exasperated. They had had this conversation too many times over the last several months. "You should know better than anyone that these things take time."
"Why don't you two take this outside?" Nathan asked, not wanting to hear another couple arguing. Dan and Deb became quiet as he spoke. "Now what can I do? Should I tell Brooke that I know she's pregnant?"
"No, I don't think you should until she tells Lucas," Dan advised him. "Just be there for the both of them and let them know that they have love and support during this whole drama with Victoria." Nathan just nodded. He knew he couldn't do much else.
On the day of Ryan's birthday, Nathan drove to the party alone. Lucas and Brooke were also invited, but they felt it would be too uncomfortable since Ryan's parents were their teachers. Nathan understood their reasoning since he wouldn't want to go to his teacher's house after school hours either.
When he arrived at the house, he wasn't thrilled to see that Victoria's car was parked in front of the house. He had hoped that she wouldn't have been able to make it. But since she was at the party, he decided to deal with it. It would only be for a few hours.
Jake happily greeted him when he answered the door. "Come on in and join the party. The birthday boy is in the playpen in the den. But don't be surprised if he isn't. Everyone seems to want to hold him."
Nathan didn't respond as he handed over his gift and walked into the den. He wasn't surprised when he saw the person who was holding Ryan was Victoria. She was gushing over him and it made Nathan realize how good of an actress she was. He couldn't wait until she would stop harassing Brooke and Lucas. They didn't need any more grief from her especially after all the drama with her already.
Victoria noticed Nathan and gave him a wide smile. "Isn't Ryan the most handsome boy you've ever seen? I could just eat him up."
Nathan tried not to laugh. "Yeah, he is certainly handsome." A question then popped in his head. "I'm surprised you're still living in that house. It must be pretty lonely with Brooke gone. Don't you want to move into a condo or something?"
"Well, I'm sure it's not any different than you living by yourself," Victoria pointed out as she handed Ryan over to him. "Besides, I'm not going to be alone much longer. I'm in the process of adopting a child." Nathan wasn't surprised to hear that, but she wasn't finished. "I was planning on adopting Rachel's baby, but I realized it would be too awkward for you. You're already dealing with the divorce. This would be too much."
Nathan didn't know how to respond to that. He tried to find the right words as he saw who had just walked in the room. It took him a few minutes to speak. "Haley?" he asked, having trouble believing that she was right in front of him.
Handing the baby back to Victoria, he stared at her in disbelief as he embraced her in a tight hug. It felt so good to have her arms around him again. He didn't want to let go and neither did Haley. He didn't care if the other guests were watching them. He needed this hug from her. He needed to know that she had missed him as much as he missed her. For a few seconds, it had to be just the two of them.